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Entry Level Research Software Engineer Jobs in Washington, DC

Anthem Engineering

Software Engineer

Chantilly, VA · On-site

Update job knowledge by researching new internet/intranet technologies and software products ... Experience developing in an Agile environment Level: Entry Level - SME Clearance: Active security ...

Anthem Engineering

Software Engineer

Chantilly, VA · On-site

Update job knowledge by researching new internet/intranet technologies and software products ... Experience developing in an Agile environment Level: Entry Level - SME Clearance: Active security ...

Anthem Engineering

Software Engineer

Chantilly, VA · On-site

Update job knowledge by researching new internet/intranet technologies and software products ... Experience developing in an Agile environment Level: Entry Level - SME Clearance: Active security ...

Rincon Research Corp

Software Engineer

Chantilly, VA · On-site

$85K - $152K/yr

Rincon Research Corporation seeks a Software Engineer to create cutting edge software and cloud computing solutions to challenging national security and defense signal processing, geolocation, and ...

Toyon Research Corporation

Software Engineer

Ashburn, VA · On-site

$90K - $140K/yr

The experienced software engineer will design, develop, test, and perform analysis in a highly ... Toyon Research Corporation will consider the individual candidate's education, work experience ...

Toyon Research Corporation

Software Engineer

Ashburn, VA · On-site

$90K - $140K/yr

The experienced software engineer will design, develop, test, and perform analysis in a highly ... Toyon Research Corporation will consider the individual candidate's education, work experience ...

Apogee Research

Embedded Software Engineer

Arlington, VA · On-site

$151K - $199K/yr

Embedded Software Engineer Apogee Research is at the forefront of a revolution in how the DoD operates: a turn towards compositional systems of systems instead of traditional monolithic architectures.

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All JobsResearch Software Engineer JobsEntry Level Research Software Engineer JobsEntry Level Research Software Engineer Jobs in Washington, DC

Entry Level Research Software Engineer information

See Washington, DC salary details

$27.2K

$118.8K

$214.1K

How much do entry level research software engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 17, 2026, the average yearly pay for entry level research software engineer in Washington, DC is $118,767.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $73,600.00 and $135,900.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is the difference between Entry Level Research Software Engineer vs Research Data Analyst?

AspectEntry Level Research Software EngineerResearch Data Analyst
Required CredentialsBachelor's in CS, Software Engineering, or related field; some roles may prefer internshipsBachelor's in Statistics, Data Science, or related field; often includes coursework in data analysis
Work EnvironmentDevelops software tools, collaborates with research teams, writes code for experimentsAnalyzes datasets, creates reports, visualizes data for research projects
Employer & Industry UsageResearch institutions, tech companies, labs; focuses on software development for researchUniversities, research organizations, industry; focuses on data interpretation and reporting

While both roles support research activities, Entry Level Research Software Engineers primarily develop and maintain software tools, whereas Research Data Analysts focus on analyzing and interpreting data. The roles often overlap in research settings but differ in core responsibilities and skill emphasis.

What are popular job titles related to Entry Level Research Software Engineer jobs in Washington, DC?

For Entry Level Research Software Engineer jobs in Washington, DC, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Entry Level Research Software Engineer jobs in Washington, DC look for?

The top searched job categories for Entry Level Research Software Engineer jobs in Washington, DC are:

Entry Level Research Software Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Entry Level Research Software Engineer job openings in Washington, DC as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 86% Full Time, 9% Part Time, and 4% Contract. Highlights an 87% Physical, 4% Hybrid, and 9% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $118,767 per year, or $57.1 per hour.

NIST PREP Research Software Engineer

Southeastern Universities Research Association

Gaithersburg, MD • On-site

$65K - $95K/yr

Full-time

Posted 4 days ago

Job description

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Professional Research Experience Program (PREP). NIST recognizes that its research staff may want to collaborate with researchers at academic institutions on specific projects of mutual interest and, therefore, requires those institutions to be recipients of a PREP award. The PREP program involves staff from a wide range of backgrounds conducting scientific research across various fields. Individuals in this position will perform technical work supporting the collaboration's scientific research.
Research Title: Research Software Engineer
The work will entail: The Data Center and Business group (DCB) in the NIST Material Measurement Laboratory is seeking a Research Software Engineer (RSE) to help build sustainable software infrastructure for Measurement Service related projects. The successful candidate will provide both hands-on support for the development, maintenance, deployment, and long-term sustainability of critical software, databases, workflows, and scientific infrastructure.
In this role you will work as an embedded technical team member, participating in project planning, code creation and revision, code review, architecture discussions, reproducibility efforts, and deployment decisions. The successful candidate will help prioritize coding work across projects in consultation with DCB programmers, balancing near-term needs with long-term software sustainability.
Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:
  • Design, expand, and deploy to an existing scientific database layout supporting active research and internal NIST datasets.
  • Develop, refactor, profile, test, and package prototype code for long-term maintainability and performance.
  • Develop new user-friendly intuitive features based around data input forms and display of data for an existing reference material dataset website.
  • Develop features to store, retrieve, and manage files related to the data records.

Qualifications
  • A Master's degree in software engineering, computer science, information technology, a STEM field, or equivalent professional experience.
  • Proficiency in HTML, CSS, SASS, and JavaScript for user-facing layouts and behavior.
  • Proficiency in Server-side languages or runtimes (Node.js and PHP), alongside database management (MongoDB).
  • Proficiency in Version control systems like Git, API integration, responsive design, and debugging/testing procedures
  • Proficiency in Linux based file system and programming
  • Experience building data pipelines and reproducible workflows.
  • Library and API design and release management, documentation for scientific users and developers, automated testing and continuous integration, code review and maintainability practices.
  • The ability to work alongside researchers in adopting modern, collaborative software development workflows (e.g., git-based collaboration, issue tracking, lightweight project management).
  • Experience creating tutorials, examples, API documentation, or other user-facing materials for scientific software.

Privacy Act StatementAuthority: 15 U.S.C. § 278g-1(e)(1) and (e)(3) and 15 U.S.C. § 272(b) and (c)
Purpose: The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) hosts the Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) which is designed to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, post-bachelor's degree holders, graduate students, master's degree holders, postdocs, and faculty.
PREP is a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not be limited to) biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, electronics, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron science, physical science, physics, and statistics. This collection of information is needed to facilitate administrative functions of the PREP Program.
Routine Uses: NIST will use the information collected to perform the requisite reviews of the applications to determine eligibility, and to meet programmatic requirements. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notices: NIST-1: NIST Associates.
Disclosure: Furnishing this information is voluntary. When you submit the form, you are indicating your voluntary consent for NIST to use of the information you submit for the purpose stated.
SURA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe that no one should be discriminated against because of their differences, such as age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, religion, or sexual orientation. All employment decisions shall be made without regard to age, race, creed, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, disability status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, or any other basis as protected by federal, state, or local law.
PREP0005162

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